old dragline
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I remember some of them were PTO driven, others were driven off the trailer wheels, like the horse drawn wagons were.
You are correct, you don't want to stand behind or alongside one when it is 'Slinging' its manure. Those things did a pretty good job of chucking it out there in the fields.
You are correct, you don't want to stand behind or alongside one when it is 'Slinging' its manure. Those things did a pretty good job of chucking it out there in the fields.
Yes they did hold 2 busses alongside each other. I had pictures of that when we were there watching them do that as a promotional thing years ago.
It would also easily hold 12 cars in the bucket. 4 in each level, stacked 3 levels high.
They always had at least 3 buckets ready for it when it was in use. They kept spare buckets which were always being repaired, for stand-by if one was broken.
They kept 1 bucket from it when they finally scrapped it, and placed it in a memorial park about 12 miles south of where it was last working as a centerpiece of the park. It is on display to the public.
The Miner's Memorial Park-Jesse Owens Park is located on Ohio route 78 and 284/83. Route 284 is named 'Big Muskie Drive.
All of the former mining land has been reclaimed very nicely now. You could never tell it was mined. The 'Wilds' animal preserve is now located in the area that was mined by Big Muskie. It is in a very Rural area, which is now a great motorcycle riding destination area.
If there are any people on this forum that were from that area of Ohio, they may also remember a lot of the big Shovels- 'Super-Strippers' that were out in that part of the state, up around Cadiz area. shovels named The G.E.M., Silver Spade, Tiger, Coal Chief and many more. I remember seeing all of them back in their prime and watching them work.
Most of the coal they mined went to the different Power Companies that generated electricity. Big Muskie was owned by American Electric Power, so our electric bill was very inexpensive back then. Muskie did consume enough electricity to power Las Vegas when working full bore. Muskie was used to fuel the power generating station at Beverly and used to fuel the old station at Philo.
It would also easily hold 12 cars in the bucket. 4 in each level, stacked 3 levels high.
They always had at least 3 buckets ready for it when it was in use. They kept spare buckets which were always being repaired, for stand-by if one was broken.
They kept 1 bucket from it when they finally scrapped it, and placed it in a memorial park about 12 miles south of where it was last working as a centerpiece of the park. It is on display to the public.
The Miner's Memorial Park-Jesse Owens Park is located on Ohio route 78 and 284/83. Route 284 is named 'Big Muskie Drive.
All of the former mining land has been reclaimed very nicely now. You could never tell it was mined. The 'Wilds' animal preserve is now located in the area that was mined by Big Muskie. It is in a very Rural area, which is now a great motorcycle riding destination area.
If there are any people on this forum that were from that area of Ohio, they may also remember a lot of the big Shovels- 'Super-Strippers' that were out in that part of the state, up around Cadiz area. shovels named The G.E.M., Silver Spade, Tiger, Coal Chief and many more. I remember seeing all of them back in their prime and watching them work.
Most of the coal they mined went to the different Power Companies that generated electricity. Big Muskie was owned by American Electric Power, so our electric bill was very inexpensive back then. Muskie did consume enough electricity to power Las Vegas when working full bore. Muskie was used to fuel the power generating station at Beverly and used to fuel the old station at Philo.
I went out and saw a dragline working at digging overburden at the Black Thunder Mine in Wright Wy in 1999. That was pretty big at 220 cubic yards
Yep, that was not a typo.
I also watched a 300 ton dump truck come around a curve and spill 20 tons of coal and asked the guy if they scraped it up at the end of the day as it would heat my house for a decade. He said he never thought about it before but spilled coal was just waste.
Yep, that was not a typo.
I also watched a 300 ton dump truck come around a curve and spill 20 tons of coal and asked the guy if they scraped it up at the end of the day as it would heat my house for a decade. He said he never thought about it before but spilled coal was just waste.
The machine you saw at Black Thunder is now the biggest that is still in operation. The Bucyrus Erie 2750WS, with a 160 Cu/Yd bucket. That machine weighs around 7000 tons. It is a very large machine. They had also used a 175 Cu/Yd bucket on it.
The Bucyrus Erie 4250W Big Muskie was the largest Walking Dragline ever built, with the 220 Cu/Yd bucket. That machine weighed 14,500 tons.
Big Muskie was larger in size than 2750WS out at Black Thunder. Even from a distance you can tell how big those draglines are. They are enormous. It's a wonder they can even move due to their size.
Those 300 ton dump trucks are very large machines. You don't want to get in their way when they are coming down the road with a load on them.
The Bucyrus Erie 4250W Big Muskie was the largest Walking Dragline ever built, with the 220 Cu/Yd bucket. That machine weighed 14,500 tons.
Big Muskie was larger in size than 2750WS out at Black Thunder. Even from a distance you can tell how big those draglines are. They are enormous. It's a wonder they can even move due to their size.
Those 300 ton dump trucks are very large machines. You don't want to get in their way when they are coming down the road with a load on them.
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